Gerry Weiss: Stars step up in the Super Bowl

Today is the first Sunday since the summer without competitive professional football. A moment of silence, please.

Sorry, but I don't count tonight's Pro Bowl as a legitimate NFL game. If you've watched football's All-Star contest over the past few years, you've seen what an embarrassing, unwatchable mess it has become.

Peyton Manning and the highest-scoring offense in NFL history against Richard Sherman -- heard from him much in the past week? -- and the league's No. 1 defense.

There have been so many great Super Bowl moments.

John Elway's spinning run that helped his Broncos top Green Bay. Joe Namath sprinting off the field after the Jets shocked everyone by beating the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. Ben Roethlisberger's perfectly thrown touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes that led the Steelers to a late win past Arizona.

But what are the greatest Super Bowl performances of all time?

There have been many when you examine 47 years of our nation's most beloved sporting event.

I'd be curious to hear which players top your lists -- yes, that means call me, send an e-mail, contact me on Facebook or Twitter ... in other words, let me know.

Here are my four, in order of greatness:

(1) Steve Young, Super Bowl XXIX -- Young passed for a record six touchdowns in San Francisco's 49-26 rout of the Chargers.

Young finally ditched the ghost of Joe Montana by throwing for 325 yards and running for 49 yards, the first time in Super Bowl history the top passer and rusher were the same person.

(2) Marcus Allen, Super Bowl XVIII -- Allen ran for 191 yards and two touchdowns, including his iconic, reverse-field gallop that went 74 yards for a score.

The Raiders crushed the defending champion Redskins 38-9, and Allen, voted the game's most valuable player, was the main reason why.

Swann had only four grabs in Pittsburgh's win, but they went for 161 yards, including a touchdown -- good enough for the acrobatic wide receiver to win MVP.

(4) Phil Simms, Super Bowl XXI -- For those who only know Simms as a broadcaster, the former Giants quarterback completed 22 of 25 passes (two of his three incompletions were drops by his receivers) for 268 yards and three touchdowns.

Near perfection.

GERRY WEISS can be reached at 870-1884. Send e-mail to gerry.weiss@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNweiss.